Survivor
by teej.318
Summary: Sarah Hamilton, 37, survived Pennywise's last attack on the children of Derry. She has been training and preparing for an inevitable confrontation with It. When Pennywise returns, Sarah crosses paths with The Losers Club...
1. Chapter 1

Ben nervously walked up to the checkout desk in the Derry Library. The old librarian hadn't been too patient with him and he hoped the woman working at the desk would be nicer. He reached the desk and hesitated. The woman looked up and smiled at him.

"Hi, can I help you?" she asked.

"Um…yeah," Ben said. "I'm looking for some books on Derry's history."

"Is there anything specific you're looking for in history?"

"Mostly just the history of the last 50 years or so."

"Sure thing," the woman said. She pointed to a bookshelf to her left. "That's where you can find all of the books we have on Derry's history. Most of them have the time period they cover written on their spines."

"Thanks for the help, erm…" Ben said, looking around for a nametag, but not finding one.

"Sarah," said the woman. "My name is Sarah."

"Thanks, Sarah. My name is Ben."

"Nice to meet you, Ben. If you don't mind my asking, why the interest? I would've thought someone your age would rather be hanging out with your friends now that school's out."

Ben hesitated, unsure if he could tell her the real reason why he was suddenly interested in Derry's history. He decided a version of the truth couldn't hurt. "Well, I'm kinda new to town and I don't know much about this place, so I'd like to find out more. I don't really have any friends yet."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Ben," Sarah said, giving Ben a sympathetic look. "But I will say you've got at least one friend," she added, smiling and pointing at herself.

Ben grinned. "Thanks, Sarah. You seem pretty cool. For a librarian."

They both laughed before Sarah spoke again. "Well, I'll let you go and check out those books. You let me know if you need anything, all right?"

"Sure will," Ben replied.

* * *

 _Days Later_

Pennywise had its arms around Eddie's face. It was drooling uncontrollably, its hunger barely containable.

"Tasty, tasty, beautiful fear!" It snarled before it opened its mouth, revealing multiple carnivorous teeth.

Suddenly, Richie and Bill burst through the door. Pennywise whipped around and stared at them; its teeth back where they belonged.

"Eddie!" Richie exclaimed. "Oh fuck, Eddie!"

Pennywise slowly started to stand up as It spoke to Bill in a high-pitched voice. "This isn't real enough for you, Billy? _I'm_ not real enough for you?"

"Holy shit!" cried Richie.

"It was real enough for Georgie!" Pennywise said before laughing maniacally and letting out a scream as It leapt up and made for Eddie and Richie, who grabbed each other. Before It could reach them, Bev let out a scream and attacked It with a poker, stabbing It in the eye.

As It stood there, almost confused, the rest of the Losers entered the room.

"Get Eddie!" Richie yelled.

They all ran for Eddie and sat down next to him. Eddie seemed frozen with fear, his right arm totally useless. Within a few seconds, Pennywise turned back around at them and yanked the poker out of its head. It shook its head for a few seconds and the wound seemed to heal itself right before their eyes.

Pennywise slowly started to advance on the Losers. They all screamed in terror as he came closer. Richie, trying to distract Eddie, grabbed Eddie's head and turned it toward him.

"Eddie, listen to me, I'm gonna snap your arm back into place!"

"Do not fucking touch me!" Eddie shouted back.

"Just hang on!" Richie fired back before grabbing Eddie's arm and forcing it back into place. Eddie screamed in pain, but his arm was no longer as disfigured as it had been. Richie and Eddie turned back to It, which was inching closer toward the group. The Losers screamed as Pennywise made to attack them.

 _BANG!_

A shot rang out and Pennywise stumbled backward, clearly having been hit.

"What the fuck?" Richie yelled.

They all heard footsteps from outside the room they were in. Suddenly, a woman ran into the room, brandishing a handgun. She was dressed in all black and had her hair pulled back into a ponytail. When Ben looked up and saw her, he almost screamed out of shock.

"Holy shit, Sarah!" he exclaimed.

"Stay down, Ben!" Sarah shouted back.

Suddenly, Pennywise seemed to recover from the gunshot wound and looked at Sarah. Its eyes widened in shock and It snarled.

"You!" It roared.

Sarah smiled, pleased that Pennywise recognized her. "I've been waiting for you, you bastard."

Pennywise let out its maniac laugh again. "I knew I shouldn't have let you live, but now I can kill you!"

With that, It lurched forward and knocked the gun out of Sarah's hands. It then kicked her away from the Losers, who all stood up quickly to get out of the way. None of them dared reach for the gun; they knew they wouldn't be able to use it properly. Sarah, though, recovered quickly and engaged Pennywise in a fistfight.

Pennywise was caught off-guard and had difficulty blocking Sarah's attacks. Sarah, who had clearly trained for this confrontation, seemed to be able to sense Pennywise's moves and was able to land a series of punches and kicks on It. Eventually, Pennywise succeeded in blocking one of Sarah's blows and knocked her to the ground. Sarah quickly recovered from her fall and stood back up, suddenly brandishing a knife she had been concealing. As Pennywise made to block Sarah's attack, she surprised It by stabbing It through the left arm, which It had been using to block her attack.

It yelped in pain, the blood shooting quickly from its arm. Sarah grinned at It as she yanked the knife out of its arm, shaking the blood off the knife. Pennywise stumbled backward again, clutching its arm. While It stared at the injured arm, Sarah glanced over at the Losers, who had looks of awe on their faces. Acting quickly, Bev kicked the gun toward Sarah, who picked it up and fired more shots at Pennywise. Sarah fired five more shots before Pennywise fell onto the closet It had originally appeared in, which collapsed and seemingly buried It.

"Holy fucking shit!" Richie exclaimed.

"Quiet!" Sarah snapped. "That motherfucker might still be over there, ready to attack."

Sarah kept her gun trained in front of her as she advanced on the downed closet. When she reached it, there was no sign of Pennywise; It had disappeared, clearly knowing the advantage Sarah had in the fight. When she was convinced It was gone, Sarah put her gun into the holster on her belt and she turned around and faced the Losers.

"Sarah, how in the hell did you know where we were?" Ben demanded as Sarah approached them.

"I'll explain later," Sarah said dismissively.

"Aren't you a librarian?" asked Mike.

"Yeah I work there," Sarah replied as she approached Richie, who was holding up Eddie, who still looked scared out of his wits. "Are you all right?" she asked Eddie, who nodded. "Good thinking on your part, snapping his arm back into place like that," she added to Richie. "That'll help the doctors repair it easier." She turned to the rest of them. "What about the rest of you, are you injured at all?"

"No," said Ben.

"I'm fine," Mike answered.

"Just a few scratches," added Bev.

"N-n-no," said Bill. "I'm OK."

"I'm good," Stan said. "Scared shitless, but I'm good."

Sarah nodded before turning back to Eddie. "It's Eddie, right?" Eddie nodded; it seemed as though he had lost his voice. "It's OK, you can talk whenever you're ready. You just had something traumatic happen to you. Believe me, I know exactly how you feel."

Finally, Eddie found his voice. "You do?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah, I do," Sarah replied. "But I won't explain it here. We've got to get out of here in case It returns. I promise, I'll tell you all everything I know once we're out of here. Let's go and get to the hospital. And Eddie, keep your arm elevated as much as you can and don't move it too much."


	2. Chapter 2

_June 1962_

10-year-old Sarah sat on the swing set in Derry's park. She was having fun swinging in the air as high as the swing would let her, but even that didn't seem high enough. At one of the benches sat her big sister, Lauren. At 17, Lauren was enjoying her summer before her senior year of high school. She had already started applying to colleges and gotten into a few, but hadn't decided where she wanted to go yet; all she knew for sure was that wherever she went, she wanted to make a difference for other girls.

Lauren had a copy of _To Kill a Mockingbird_ sitting next to her on the bench. It was the required reading assignment for her upcoming advanced English class and she decided it was time to start reading it, even if that made her kinda nerdy.

"Come on, Lauren!" Sarah shouted at her sister. "Come and swing!"

Lauren smiled at Sarah's excitement. "Let me read a chapter or two and then I'll join you."

"Oh, all right," Sarah replied, sounding a little disappointed. She then continued swinging and her disappointment was quickly forgotten.

Lauren opened up the book and started reading. Within seconds, the book had captured her full attention and she didn't look up when she heard Sarah squeal with excitement as she launched herself off the swing midair.

"Be careful, Sarah," Lauren said dismissively, not looking up from the book.

Sarah giggled and shook her body to recover from her hard landing. That was the furthest she had ever jumped and she wondered if she could go any further in the future.

Suddenly, Sarah heard a twig snap in one of the nearby bushes. She stretched as far as she could without moving to try and see what had made the noise, but didn't see any animals running away from the bushes. Sarah glanced over at Lauren, who seemed enamored by the book. Grinning to herself, Sarah jumped down from the swing set and walked over toward the bush. Lauren didn't look up.

When she reached the bush, Sarah knelt down on the ground, searching for a sign of whatever had made the noise. She didn't see anything, but heard another twig snap.

"Where the heck are you?" she whispered.

"What are you doing, Sarah?" Lauren suddenly called.

Sarah jumped in shock. She looked up and saw Lauren had stopped reading her book and was looking up at her.

"Just looking for whatever made the twigs snap," Sarah replied. "I think it was an animal or something, but I don't see anything."

"Well, don't go too far, now," Lauren chided. "We don't want to be late for dinner. 15 more minutes, all right, kiddo?"

"OK," Sarah said, sounding annoyed. She waited until she saw Lauren open the book again and continue reading before she turned back to the bush. She pushed some more twigs out of the way, but still didn't find the source of the noise.

" _Sarah_ …" came a voice in a harsh whisper. Sarah looked around quickly, but didn't find where the voice was coming from. It sounded faint, but close.

"Is someone there?" Sarah asked, trying her best to hide her fear.

" _Sarah..._ " the voice repeated. " _Come on back here, Sarah._ "

Sarah hesitated. She glanced back at Lauren, who was absorbed in her book again. Her curiosity getting the better of her, Sarah pushed the bush aside some more and eventually pushed past it. She was now on the edge of the park, near where the baseball diamond stood. She looked around, but didn't see anybody.

"Hello?" she called.

" _Over here!"_ the voice replied. " _Over by the trees!_ "

Sarah walked nervously over to the trees, which led into the Derry woods. She had barely reached them when suddenly she saw the face of a clown.

"Oh!" Sarah screamed.

"Hi, Sarah!" the clown exclaimed in a childlike voice that made a cold chill run down Sarah's spine.

"H-how do you know my name?"

"I know lots of things about the children of Derry."

"Who are you?"

"I'm Pennywise," It said with a goofy smile. "Pennywise the Dancing Clown."

"Are you with a circus or something? I've never seen you at any of the birthday parties."

"Yeah, yeah, a circus," said Pennywise, who glanced around nervously, which Sarah didn't notice. "Do you like circuses?"

"Yeah."

"Well how about you come with me and I can take you to the circus, Sarah?"

Sarah took a brief step backward at this suggestion. "Um…I'm not supposed to go anywhere with strangers, Pennywise."

"Oh, come on, Sarah, you can trust me. I'm a clown! Clowns are nice people!"

"Yeah, well, I'm not supposed to go anywhere with anyone who isn't my sister. Besides, it's almost dinner time and I'm ready for dinner."

"You're right!" Pennywise exclaimed, licking his mouth. "It is dinner time. And you know what I'd like to have for dinner, Sarah?"

"No…" Sarah replied, taking another step backward.

"You!" It shouted before leaping out of the trees and revealing its full self. Pennywise laughed madly before opening its mouth and revealing its carnivorous teeth and roaring at Sarah, who screamed as loudly as she could.

Lauren immediately looked up from her book when she heard the scream.

"Sarah?" she yelled as Sarah screamed again. "Sarah, what's going on?" She stood up, throwing the book down and forgetting all about it. She glanced around the park, but didn't see her sister anywhere. "Sarah, where are you?"

Sarah let out another scream before she shouted back an answer. "By the baseball diamond!"

Lauren turned and ran toward the baseball diamond, reaching it in seconds, though it felt like an eternity. When she finally stopped running, she saw Sarah running away from a creepy looking clown.

"Sarah, over here!" Lauren cried. Sarah looked over at her and started running toward her sister, screaming as loudly as she could. Sarah was faster than the clown and reached Lauren in seconds, rushing into her arms. Suddenly, the clown sped up, his face full of glee.

"Who the fuck are you?" Lauren demanded.

Pennywise giggled madly again. "I'm Pennywise and I'm ready to have some dinner!"

Just as It lunged toward them, Lauren pushed Sarah away from her and intercepted Pennywise, barely managing to push him away.

"Sarah run!" she screamed as Pennywise recovered and started walking toward her again.

"No, Lauren!" Sarah shouted.

"Go, now!" Lauren retorted as she punched Pennywise in the face. "Get out of here! Go and get help! I'll hold him off!"

"Lauren!" Sarah cried as Pennywise kicked Lauren over and Lauren fell to the ground.

"Go right now, Sarah! Go!"

Sarah, tears streaming down her face, nodded at her sister and turned, running as fast as she could. When she reached the bush again, she crouched down under it to hide and peered through it. She watched as Lauren and the clown fought for several seconds before the clown suddenly grabbed Lauren by the neck and lifted her off the ground. The clown shook Lauren roughly until she stopped moving. Then, It laid Lauren's unconscious body across its arms, turned around and walked back into the trees, appearing to vanish almost instantly.

"Lauren!" Sarah cried, pushing past the bush again and running to the edge of the woods. "Lauren!" she yelled again, searching around for any sign of her sister. "No, Lauren! You bring her back her!"

She continued shouting into the trees for about a minute. When she had shouted herself hoarse, she stopped, coughing loudly. When her cough fit stopped, she glanced around the trees some more, but there was still no sign of Lauren.

Sarah then turned and ran back to the park, screaming as loudly as she could to get someone's attention.

"Help! Help!" she screamed. "Help me, please! My sister's been kidnapped! Please, help me!"


	3. Chapter 3

_October 1982_

Luke Meyer lay on his girlfriend Jane's couch, cuddling with her late on a cold night. They lay together on the couch in silence for some time before Jane finally spoke.

"I'm not who you think I am," Jane said suddenly, sitting up.

"OK," Luke said, hesitating. "Who are you?"

"My name isn't Jane Lee."

"Oooh, what is it?"

"Sarah Hamilton," she replied shortly.

Luke chuckled softly. "Hamilton, huh?" Sarah nodded at him. "OK."

"I changed my name when I went into hiding," Sarah explained.

"Wow, that sounds like you're in the witness protection program or something," Luke said. "What'd you do, rat out the mob or something?"

Sarah smiled sadly. "My sister was murdered when she was 17."

"That's horrible. How did it happen?"

"You're gonna think I'm crazy if I tell you what happened."

Luke chuckled again. "Try me."

Sarah sighed before she spoke. "I don't know exactly who it was who did it, but he was dressed like a clown."

"A clown?" Luke said skeptically. "You mean like from the circus?"

"In a sense. Anyway, he tried to lure me away from where my sister was watching me and tried to attack me when I refused to go with him. It happened in Derry, Maine."

" _The_ Derry? The place where all the people seem to disappear?"

"You've heard the stories," Sarah said.

"Who hasn't? Kids and adults seem to go missing there every so often and it's never explained what happened to any of them. The last time it happened was like 20 years ago, wasn't it?"

Sarah nodded as she answered. "1962. And there was one girl who survived it. She tried to tell people about what happened, but nobody else believed her. That's when she gave up."

"She died?"

"No. She faked her death. And now she works from home as a counselor in a secluded home in southern California." Luke's eyes widened in shock as he started to put it all together. "And she hopes and prays every year that her sister's killer won't find her."

"You're telling me the truth?" Luke asked.

Sarah nodded. "Now do you want a drink?"

"Yeah," said Luke, sounding as though he desperately needed alcohol.

"I'll be back," Sarah said, getting off the couch and walking into her kitchen. As she poured some glasses of wine, Luke sat up staring at her, still not quite believing what he had just heard. Sarah walked back into the room carrying two glasses of wine.

"Explains a lot, doesn't it?" she said as she handed Luke his glass.

"So you've been living with this for 20 years?" Luke asked.

"Something like that," Sarah replied as she took a swig of wine.

"Well, honey, you don't think that after all this time he'd come after you, do you?"

Sarah sighed deeply. "I was his original target that day. He lured me away to get me on my own so he could kill me. The only reason I was able to get away was because Lauren intervened and tried to fight him on her own. And I was supposed to be the last one to disappear."

"What do you mean?"

"After he killed Lauren, the disappearances stopped. And eventually, everyone stopped caring what happened to all of the kids who went missing. And no one believed me when I tried to explain what happened to Lauren. It was as if that fucker had infected the minds of all the residents so they wouldn't see the truth."

"When did you leave?"

"Ten years ago," said Sarah. "I had had enough of Derry and its bullshit. I faked my death and came here to get a new start. I hoped that with news of my death in the town, I'd be safe, but I can't help feeling guilty that I won't be there to warn anyone if It strikes again."

"Again?"

Sarah nodded. "I did some research on Derry and its history before I left. It turns out that large numbers of disappearances happen about every 25 years. People, mostly kids, disappear in large numbers for a short time and then the disappearances stop. None of the people who go missing are ever recovered, but nobody seems to care. The police don't do anything and the feds don't ever find anything when they investigate. It's all hushed up."

"Jesus," Luke said. "How the hell can they let that happen?"

"It's horrible," Sarah replied. "And I've done some thinking and I'd like to return to Derry. It's been long enough that I won't be recognized. I can go back to using my real first name, but I'll keep my assumed last name so I don't draw any suspicions."

"When are you planning on going back there?"

"Not until the next date gets closer. Like I said, it's about every 25 years or so, so I'll probably go there in about five years."

"What are you hoping to accomplish by going back?"

"If nothing else, I can confront that bastard who killed my sister and have my revenge on him."

Luke sighed, downing the rest of his glass of wine, before he spoke again. "I believe you, Jane — Sarah. I don't know why, but I can hear the truth in your words. And I want you to know that I support you in whatever you do. I wanna try and help you."

"How?"

"Well, you're going to need to know how to properly defend yourself against this clown person," Luke said. "My military training will be enough for you to be able to fight him off without needing any weapons. But I should properly teach you how to use those, too. They'd give you an advantage over him."

"You'd do that for me?"

Luke nodded. "I can't imagine you seeing your sister get killed right in front of you like that, especially at such a young age."

Sarah sat back down on the couch, curling right up to Luke. They stared at each other, looking directly into one another's eyes, before they kissed for several seconds. When they broke apart, Luke held Sarah in his arms and lay back down.

"Thank you," Sarah said quietly.

"Thank you for being honest with me about all of that."

"I love you, Luke."

"I love you, too."


	4. Chapter 4

Sarah turned into the parking lot of the hospital, with Bill, Bev, Ben, Stan and Mike following closely on their bikes. Eddie and Richie were in Sarah's station wagon with her. Quickly, she found a parking spot and killed the engine.

"Let's get you inside," she said as she opened the door and stepped out.

Richie opened the door next to him and got out. He walked around the car to the other side, where Eddie was sitting in the backseat, nursing his arm. Richie opened the door where Eddie was and reached inside to help Eddie out.

"Here, grab my arm," Richie said. Eddie obeyed him and grabbed onto Richie's right arm with his good arm. Richie helped lift Eddie out of the car. "Keep a hold of me. I don't want you to get hurt anymore."

"Everyone here?" Sarah asked the others.

"Y-yes," replied Bill.

"Then let's go."

Sarah led The Losers into the hospital and made for the front desk. She was relieved to see no one else was waiting to be admitted.

"Excuse me, this young man needs to see a doctor right away," Sarah said to the woman behind the desk.

"What seems to be the problem?" the woman asked.

"He broke his fucking arm, can't you tell?" Richie exclaimed.

"Easy, Richie," said Bev quietly.

"Excuse me, young man," said the woman angrily.

"Sorry," Richie said a little too unconvincingly.

"Anyway, yes, he broke his arm," said Sarah. "He should see a doctor right away."

"How did you break your arm?"

"I…uh…" Eddie stammered.

"He fell," Richie said quickly. The woman behind the desk raised her eyebrows. "Honestly, he fell."

"Yeah, it was a pretty bad fall," added Mike.

"He c-c-can be a little clu-clumsy," said Bill.

The woman didn't seem convinced, but didn't press the matter further. "I'll let someone know you're here," she said. "Why don't you all have a seat and someone will be right with you."

"Thank you," Sarah said. She motioned for the kids to follow her and found a group of empty seats for them to sit on. Once they were all situated, she spoke to Eddie. "I should call your parents."

"No!" Eddie cried. "No, my mom can't know that my arm was broken."

"Eds, she's gonna find out anyway," Richie said soothingly. "They're gonna have to put your arm in a cast."

"What?"

"He's right," Bev said. "They'll have to put you in a cast for a while to keep the bone in place after they've fixed it. She's gonna have to find out."

"All right," Eddie said, sighing. "Fine. Bill, can you call her? I don't think she should hear that I'm in the hospital from someone she doesn't know."

"S-s-sure," Bill replied, standing up with Stan and walking over to the nearest payphone.

At that, a group of nurses entered the waiting room, rolling a stretcher into the room. They wheeled the stretcher over to the group.

"I see you're the patient," said the nurse who looked to be the oldest. She smiled kindly at Eddie. "Can you tell us your name, please?"

"I'm Eddie," Eddie replied.

"Hi, Eddie, my name is Ruth and my friends and I will take you back to get your arm looked at and then we'll get it fixed right up. Are you ready?"

"Do I have to go alone?"

Ruth nodded. "I'm afraid so."

"No!" said Eddie, suddenly clutching Richie a little tighter. "No, please don't take me alone!"

"I'm sorry, Eddie, but we have to take you back there alone."

Eddie turned to Richie, the fear evident in his expression. "Please, don't let them take me! Don't leave me!"

"Eds, calm down," said Richie. "We're not gonna leave you. We're gonna be right here until you get back."

Suddenly, Sarah stood up again. "Ruth, could I speak to you privately for a moment, please?"

"Sure, but we should really hurry and get Eddie back to surgery."

"This will just take a few seconds."

Sarah and Ruth walked away, just out of earshot from the Losers and the nurses who had accompanied Ruth. They spoke privately for about a minute before they turned and walked back to the group.

"All right, Eddie, we're going to let your friend come with you and stay with you until we put you under for surgery, how does that sound?"

Eddie looked relieved. "Oh, thank you," he said. "Richie, will you come with me?"

"Yeah, of course," Richie replied.

"Then let's get you onto this stretcher and we'll take you to your room," Ruth said.

Richie stood up and then helped Eddie stand up and walk over to the stretcher. He and the nurses helped Eddie onto the stretcher before wheeling the stretcher around and taking it back through the doorways they had entered in beforehand.

* * *

Half an hour later, Richie returned to the waiting room. The Losers all stood up as soon as he reached them.

"How is he?" asked Stan.

"He's fine. They're putting him to sleep now for surgery. Did you guys get ahold of his mom?"

"We left a m-m-message," said Bill.

Richie nodded and then turned to Sarah. "So how in the fuck did you know where to find us and how do you know about that fucking clown?"

Sarah glanced around to make sure no one would overhear them. Once she was satisfied, she motioned for everyone to sit down. "Now, you've gotta understand, this is a complete secret, all right? We've got to keep this between us, otherwise I won't be able to protect you."

"Protect us?" Ben asked.

Sarah nodded. "I know what that clown is capable of. He's done this before."

"How do you know?" questioned Stan.

"Because I survived his last attack on this town."

"When you say his last attack, do you mean the last time that a bunch of kids went missing?" asked Ben.

Sarah nodded again. "I knew you were doing research into the all the disappearances when I saw you using the same books I used when I did the same thing, Ben. I knew I had to keep an eye on you to make sure that he didn't attack you. I needed to tell you all that I know so that you and your friends can survive. How much do you know?"

"Derry is not like any town I've ever been in before," Ben replied. "They did a study once and, it turns out, people die or disappear at six times the national average. And that's just grown ups. Kids are worse, way worse. But the thing is, it only seems to happen about every 30 years or so."

"Because that's when It returns to this town," Sarah said.

"But w-w-what is It-t-t?" asked Bill.

"I don't know exactly what It is, but It seems to personify whatever people fear the most. I think that's what feeds It. It's our fear that keeps It alive. But It needs to feed every so often, which is why there are sudden bursts of disappearances and deaths. It's when It returns."

"So what happened the last time It attacked?" Mike asked.

"A bunch of kids went missing," Sarah explained. "A few adults, too, but mostly it was kids. And I was meant to be one of them. That motherfucker tried to get me to go with him, but when I refused, he tried to attack me, but my sister found me and tried to fight him herself. It killed her and then all of the disappearances stopped."

"So your sister was Lauren Hamilton?" said Ben.

Sarah nodded. "She was the last victim. After the disappearances stopped, the police stopped investigating and no one seemed to care what had happened or why everything had stopped. I tried to convince people of the danger, but no one would believe me. So, 10 years after Lauren was killed, I faked my death and moved to California to escape. But I did a lot of research like you did, Ben, and I knew that the clown would be likely to return. I faked my death in the hopes that I could surprise It by returning."

"When did you come back?" asked Mike.

"Two years ago, after my boyfriend Luke died of cancer," Sarah replied. "Up until then, he had been training me in self-defense and weapons in order to prepare myself for a confrontation with It. I've been training daily ever since I told him the truth seven years ago. I guess I always knew I had to fight It."

Sarah sighed when she was finally done explaining everything. She looked around at the Losers, who each had a look of shock on their faces. Finally, Richie spoke up.

"But then the fucker must be dead, right?"

Sarah shook her head. "I doubt it. He still needs to feed, which is why he's back. Not nearly the same amount of people have disappeared this time."

"But you beat the shit out of him!" Richie exclaimed.

"Maybe, but that won't be enough to stop him. The only way for sure to know to stop him is to find out where It lives and confront It there."

"Oh, no fucking way," said Stan. "I'm not going after that thing again. It's summer, we should be enjoying ourselves."

"Yeah, I don't really want to have anything else to do with that thing," added Mike.

"I mean, Eddie almost got fucking killed!" said Richie.

"But we have to stop It!" Bev exclaimed. "We can't let It hurt anyone else!"

"She's r-r-right," said Bill.

"Yeah, we've got to stop It," Ben said.

Sarah stared at the group, suddenly looking nervous.

"This is exactly what It wants; to turn on each other so It doesn't have to worry about a group fighting against It," Sarah said. "You can't turn on one another. You've got to stick together. It's the only way to survive him, even with my help. If you turn your backs on each other, your guards will be down and he'll try to attack you."

Stan shook his head. "Forget it," he said. "I'm outta here."

"Yeah, me too," said Mike. "I gotta get back to my farm."

"Guys," said Bev, sounding incredulous. "What the hell?"

"What about G-g-Georgie?"

"He's gone, Bill," Richie said. "I'm sorry, but it's true. There's nothing more we can do."

Suddenly, Bill stood up and smacked Richie across the face. "Don't you f-f-fucking say th-th-th-that!" he cried.

Richie grabbed his cheek that Bill had hit. After a few seconds, he spoke angrily. "Fine, then I'm leaving, too. I don't need this shit."

Sarah stood up. "No, don't you see? This is exactly what It wants!"

"You're crazy!" Stan exclaimed. "That clown is gone and we should all move on with our lives. Come on, guys, let's go."

"I'm gonna stay until I know Eddie is OK," said Richie. "But I'm not staying anywhere near you all."

With that, Richie stood up and walked away from Bill, Bev, Ben and Sarah, finding an empty seat several feet away from them. He crossed his arms and sat down, his expression angry.

"Fuck!" Sarah cried under her breath. "I should've known telling the truth was a bad idea."

"No," said Ben. "You did the right thing. I know it."

"Yeah," added Bev. "Those guys will come around, eventually. They'll have to."

"That's r-right."

Sarah looked up at them for a few seconds with tears in her eyes. Finally, she nodded. "You're right," she said. "I had to tell the truth."

"So how did you know where to find us?" Ben asked.

"I saw you all riding your bikes in the direction of the abandoned Neibolt house," Sarah explained. "I've had my suspicions about that house for some time now. I don't know how, exactly, but I knew that house was somehow connected to all of this."

Ben nodded. "The house is the center point for all of the sewer lines that It uses to get rid of the kids. That's what he uses to make them disappear."

"That makes sense," Sarah replied. "Now, I want you three to listen to me carefully: don't go telling anyone any of this. I know it seems like it's better if more people know, but the truth is the exact opposite. I know from experience. All of this will be hushed up unless we stop It. So for now, our secret, OK?"

The remaining Losers nodded.


	5. Chapter 5

Sarah woke with a start. The phone that sat on her desk was ringing. She sat up on her couch; it had been about an hour since she had fallen asleep. Once she was situated, Sarah stood up and walked over to her desk and sat down. She then picked up the receiver on her phone.

"Hello?

"Hello? I need some help!" Came the caller's voice. Sarah noticed right away that this voice sounded familiar, but she couldn't quite place it.

"OK, well whatever your problem is, you can tell me. My name is Sarah."

"Oh god, Sarah, my sister is missing!"

"Are you sure?" asked Sarah, still trying hard to figure out why this voice sounded so familiar.

"Yes, she's missing for sure, I know it, Sarah."

"Well then the people that you need to call are the police."

"No, I need to call you, Sarah. Just you."

Suddenly, Sarah remembered where she had heard this voice before. But she knew it was impossible to hear this voice.

"I'm sorry, your voice…" Sarah started to say before drifting off.

"Don't you want to know how you can help, Sarah?"

"Who is this?" Sarah demanded, standing up from her desk.

"It's your sister, Sarah."

"You're not my sister. How did you get this number? Who is this?"

"You know my voice when you hear it, Sarah!" Lauren's voice replied angrily.

"Look, whoever the fuck you are, this isn't funny at all. So I suggest you tell me who you are, asshole."

Suddenly, there was laughter on the other line, laughter that Sarah recognized instantly.

"You!" she shouted into the phone. It just laughed harder, sounding more insane than before. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"Oh, Sarah, you know I love to have a fun time!" Pennywise replied in its gleeful voice. "I thought you and I could have some fun!"

"You listen to me, you motherfucker, I beat the shit out of you once and I'm ready to do it again and kill you this time. You're never going to be able to hurt another kid again."

"We'll see about that," said Pennywise before laughing manically again and hanging up the phone.

When Sarah heard the dial tone, she slammed the phone back down on the receiver and opened her desk drawer, pulling out her Smith and Wesson 639 from it and making sure it was loaded and ready to fire. She then kept the gun pointed in front of her and started to search her house, thinking that Pennywise might be lurking somewhere inside. Sarah checked all of the rooms of the house and found that she was still alone. She returned to her living room and sat the gun down on the desk before breaking down in tears.

Hearing Lauren's voice again had startled her. She wondered how she couldn't have remembered it was her voice instantly.

 _But that wasn't really her voice_ , she thought. _It was that fucker trying to mess with me._

She then remembered how the voice had sounded a little distorted. That must have been, she realized, why she didn't recognize the voice as Lauren's.

Suddenly, there was a sharp knock at the door. Sarah stood up, wiping the tears off her face and picking up her gun again. She kept the gun pointed at the door as she approached it, the knocking continuing.

"Who is it?" she demanded.

"Sarah, it's B-b-b-Bill and my friends," came Bill's voice.

Hesitating, Sarah lowered her gun and looked through the peephole on the door. She saw it was indeed Bill and all of his friends, but Bev was not with them. Sarah unlocked the door and opened it.

"What the fuck is that for?" asked Richie, noticing Sarah's gun right away.

"Oh, nothing," Sarah said, putting the gun into the holster on her hip.

"Come on, Sarah, you have to have a good reason for keeping that out," said Ben.

"Look, why don't you guys come inside? I don't want anyone to overhear this conversation."

She stepped back and the Losers Club walked into the house. Mike shut the door behind them and they all followed Sarah into the living room. Richie, Eddie and Bill sat on the couch while Ben sat in the armchair and Mike and Stan remained standing.

"I just a phone call from It," Sarah explained as she sat the gun back down on her desk.

"What?" asked Stan. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I know that fucker's voice anywhere. It was him. He was trying to mess with me by impersonating my sister's voice."

"How did he get your number?" Mike asked.

Sarah shook her head. "It doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is that we try and stop It as soon as we can. I'll need your guys' help with this. And speaking of you all, where's Bev?"

The Losers all glanced at one another before Bill finally spoke up.

"It got her," he said without a stutter.

Sarah's eyes widened in shock. "What?" she exclaimed. "Are you sure?"

Bill nodded. "We c-c-checked her how-house. Her Dad was d-d-dead and she was g-gone."

"Son of a bitch," Sarah muttered. "How the fuck did It get her?"

"It must've messed with her mind," Eddie piped up. He grimaced as he sat up, his arm in its sling bothering him slightly. "Like It did with you with the phone call."

Sarah nodded. "That makes sense. That fucker can only get people that it has fooled."

"Will you g-g-go with uh-uh-us? To find B-b-b-Bev?"

"I've waited 27 years to put that fucker to rest. You bet your ass I'm coming with you. Just give me a moment to change into better clothing and then we'll go and find Bev."

With that, Sarah walked into her bedroom and shut the door behind her. For five minutes, the boys all sat around, staring at each other awkwardly before Sarah came back into the room. She was dressed in a black tanktop, with black cargo pants and boots. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail again. Immediately, Richie's eyes were drawn to the gun Sarah was carrying from her room.

"Holy fucking shit!" he exclaimed. "Is that a sawed-off shotgun?"

"Mossberg 500," Sarah replied. "It's a pretty tough gun and should help us take down that bastard Pennywise." She then picked up her Smith and Wesson and put it back into her holster. "Let's get that motherfucker."


	6. Chapter 6

Sarah led the Losers through the tunnels below the Neibolt house, keeping her Smith and Wesson pointed in front of her at all times. After Henry Bowers had attacked them when they were lowering themselves down into the sewers, she knew to expect anything to attack them as they approached the lair of It.

Eventually, they found themselves in a large room, which they knew had to be Pennywise's lair. Above them, bodies of Its previous victims floated in the air — suddenly Pennywise telling all of them that they'll "float down here" made sense to them. Once they had situated themselves in this room, they glanced around, waving their flashlights through the room, trying to find a sign of Bev.

"There!" shouted Eddie.

Everyone whipped around to see where Eddie was pointing his flashlight beam. Floating above them was Bev, who appeared unconscious. They all rushed over to her.

"Try and pull her down!" Sarah barked as the Losers worked. She kept her gun pointed out from her, glancing around for signs of Pennywise.

"We got her!" Mike exclaimed once Bev was down.

"Quick, try and wake her up before It comes back!"

The Losers tried everything they could to wake Bev up: Richie slapped her face; Bill splashed a bit of water on her; Stan shook her body. But nothing they tried seemed to work. Finally, Ben grabbed Bev and kissed her hard on the lips. Bev quickly snapped out of her stupor and opened her eyes.

"Guys!" she gasped as she looked around at them. "Thank god you found me!"

"Come on, let's get out of here!" Sarah yelled. "We'll have time for a cozy reunion once we're out of here."

"C-c-can you walk?" asked Bill.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Bev replied.

"Then let's get the fuck out of here!" Richie shouted.

Sarah motioned for the Losers to follow her. Just as they were about to reach the hallway leading out of the room, Bill suddenly stopped.

"Bill, what is it?" Eddie asked.

Bill didn't reply, but looked over to his right. Standing several feet away from him, wearing the yellow raincoat he had on when he disappeared was Georgie. Bill started to walk toward Georgie.

"Be careful, Bill," Sarah whispered. "You can't be sure it's actually him."

Bill nodded as he approached Georgie, who seemed to have eyes only for Bill.

"Georgie…" Bill said.

"What took you so long?" Georgie asked as he sobbed.

"I…I was looking for you this whole time," Bill replied as tears started to stream down his face.

"I couldn't find my way outta here," said Georgie, still sobbing.

"I'm sorry, Georgie. I never should have let you go out all by yourself."

"I just wanted to play with my boat. It was the best thing you ever made for me."

"Is that right?" asked Bill, who suddenly started to reach for the odd gun Mike had brought along with them. "It's the best one I ever made for you?"

"That's right."

Bill suddenly pointed the gun at Georgie, who froze.

"What are you doing, Billy?"

 _BANG!_

Georgie fell over, bleeding profusely from the chest.

"Bill, what the fuck?" Richie screamed.

"That's n-n-not Georgie," Bill replied. "You don't c-c-call a boat 'it.' Y-y-y-you call them 'she.' I told Georgie that right before he disappeared."

Suddenly, Pennywise appeared where Georgie's body had been. It flew into a rage and made to attack Bill. Sarah fired a shot at Pennywise, which turned to face her.

"You'll have to get through me first, you motherfucker," Sarah snarled.

"Oh, goodie!" Pennywise exclaimed. "I've waited far too long to kill you, Sarah!"

With that, Pennywise lunged forward, knocking Sarah's Smith and Wesson out of her hands. Before Sarah had time to recover, Pennywise started to attack her with punches. Sarah quickly regained her composure and started to fend off Pennywise. But she couldn't seem to block its attacks quickly enough. Soon, Pennywise overwhelmed her and tripped Sarah, who fell to the ground with a hard thud, her knife rolling out of its sheath. Pennywise giggled madly and grabbed the knife. Using Its full body weight, Pennywise held Sarah down and lifted up the knife. Sarah struggled to get Pennywise off of her, but to no avail.

"Go ahead if you've got the guts," she snarled as Pennywise made to stab her.

"My pleasure!" Pennywise shouted before bringing down the knife and stabbing Sarah hard in the shoulder.

Sarah screamed out in pain. Pennywise laughed manically again as It got off of Sarah, who stopped moving.

"No! Sarah!" Bill yelled, rushing over to Sarah. Pennywise laughed again and grabbed Bill roughly, quickly overpowering him.

"Bill!" Mike cried, running toward Bill and Pennywise with the rest of the Losers.

"Let him go!" Bev shouted.

"No!" Pennywise roared. "I'll take him! I'll take all of you! I'll feast on your flesh as I feed on your fear… Or… you'll just leave us be… I will take him. Only him and I will my long rest and you will all live to grow and thrive and lead _happy_ lives, until old age takes you back to the weeds."

Bill, who was barely conscious, tried to fight off Pennywise again, but was unsuccessful.

"Leave!" he howled. "Leave me and go!"

Richie broke off from the rest of the Losers, looking as if he was going to accept Pennywise's offer.

"Oh, Bill," he said as he paced around, looking only at the floor. "You punched me, made me walk through shitty water, dragged me through a crackhouse…and now I'm gonna have to kill this fucking clown."

Suddenly, Richie grabbed a club on the ground and screamed out as he attacked Pennywise with it. Pennywise let Bill go and barely avoided being hit by the club.

"Fuck you!" Richie bellowed. "You're not gonna hurt any of us!"

As Richie attacked again, the rest of the Losers quickly joined him, rushing to attack Pennywise with whatever they could use as a weapon. Together, they worked to overpower Pennywise, who seemed to be barely able to hold on for much longer. But then, Pennywise dodged an attack from Bev and managed to throw her away from It. Pennywise then grabbed the pole Bev had been trying to attack It with and used it to hit back Bill, Stan, Richie, Mike and Ben. Eddie, meanwhile, was searching for a new weapon he could use one-handedly.

When the others were down, Pennywise walked toward Eddie slowly, laughing madly as It approached him. Eddie scrambled to get away, holding up his good arm as a shield. Just as Pennywise reached him, a loud gunshot rang throughout the room.

Pennywise stumbled as he was hit by the shot. Eddie ran away as Pennywise was distracted, joining the rest of the Losers. It whipped around to find the source of the gunshot. It looked over to where It had stabbed Sarah and its eyes widened in shock.

Sarah stood, pointing her sawed-off shotgun at Pennywise, holding it in her left hand. Her right shoulder was bleeding from where Pennywise had stabbed her. She had a fire in her eyes that seemed to hold more power than anything Pennywise could use against her.

"You should've tried harder to kill me, asshole!" Sarah snarled.

With that, Sarah cocked the shotgun and fired another bullet into Pennywise, who stumbled backward again, truly looking fearful for the first time. Sarah fired several more rounds into Pennywise, who kept stumbling backward as It was pummeled with bullets. After several shots, Sarah made to shoot Pennywise again, only to stop when she realized she was out of bullets.

Sarah kept her shotgun pointed at Pennywise. It was bleeding profusely from the bullet wounds. After several seconds, It fell onto the ground hard before letting out a loud scream of pain and disappearing in a cloud of red smoke.

Pennywise's screams echoed throughout the lair as It died. The Losers covered their ears, the noise almost unbearable for them to hear. Sarah, however, kept her gun pointed where Pennywise had been standing as she watched Its body disappear. Once the screams had stopped echoing in the room, Sarah finally dropped her shotgun and put her left hand on her stab wound to try and stop the bleeding.

Sarah let out a deep breath as she realized Pennywise was gone.

"Now you'll rot in hell where you belong, you bastard," she said before walking over to the Losers.

"Jesus, Sarah, are you all right?" Ben asked when Sarah reached them.

Sarah nodded. "I'll live. Are you guys OK?"

"Fine," said Stan.

"It didn't hurt me too badly," added Mike.

"Just exhausted," Bev replied.

"I'll be fine," said Eddie.

"That shit was fucking intense," said Richie.

Sarah nodded again. "How about you, Bill? Are you OK?"

Bill, who wasn't facing the Losers, didn't respond. Instead, he remained staring at something on the ground near him. Richie walked forward first, trying to see what Bill was looking at. Richie's eyes widened in shock as he saw Georgie's raincoat lying in the ground, bloodstains where Georgie's right arm would've been in.

Bill collapsed onto the ground, tears streaming down his face. Richie placed a hand on Bill's shoulder, trying to comfort him. The rest of the Losers joined them, sitting down next to Bill and trying to grab some part of him to offer comfort. Sarah sat down opposite Richie and rested her good hand on Bill's shoulder.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered.

Bill turned and looked at her, the tears flowing freely down his face.

"T-t-thank you for say-say-saving us," he said quietly before hugging Sarah and sobbing. Sarah wrapped her good arm around Bill and held him closely, trying her best to offer comfort.

"It's gone," she said soothingly. "That clown is gone and is never coming back. Now our siblings can rest in peace."


End file.
